Outcasts
by RavenclawWitch18
Summary: Sirius Black meets a strange boy in the forest after running away from his family and getting lost. Intrigued by the boy, Sirius returns to the forest day after day in order to get to know the boy. Just who is he really? And what are these feelings that Sirius feels every time he sees the boy? AU. RL/SB.
1. First Meeting

**AN: I am dedicating this chapter to Bottlebrush since she has reviewed both of my stories and she was the one who requested that I do this story next.**

_Disclaimer: This is the only time I'll put this up. I do not own it. The only thing I own is the plot. And the OC character who will appear in later chapters._

Sirius kicked at a branch and had to duck out of the way as it snapped back towards him. Of all the times he had run away from home for a while, this was the first time he had run into the forest. As it was his first time by himself in the forest, Sirius had quickly gotten lost. Now he was simply wandering around, trying to find a trail or something he could use to guide himself out of the forest. Not that he was having much luck with that. He seemed to be wandering deeper into the forest.

After what felt like hours of walking, Sirius stumbled upon a stream. While it was good that he had found a source of water, it didn't exactly help him figure out how to get out of the forest. There was no stream that came from the forest anywhere near his village. Looking up, Sirius was surprised to notice that there was a boy by the bushes on the other side.

"Hey." Sirius called out.

The boy was startled and dropped something. He spun around and Sirius could see that he looked to be about his age. He was wearing a green t-shirt and jean shorts. From this distance, the only thing he could make out of the boy's physical appearance was the light blonde hair.

"Who are you?" The boy demanded.

"My name is Sirius." Sirius answered, moving closer to the river. "Who are you?"

The boy ignored his question and asked another. "What are you doing here?"

"I got lost." Sirius admitted.

The boy smirked. "Obviously. There aren't any paths that lead here so in order to find your way here, you had to have wandered from the path."

"Or never started out on one." Sirius countered. "Do you happen to know what the time is?"

The boy looked up at the top of the trees where glimmers of sunlight pushed through the thick canopy of leaves enough to light the forest.

"About noon."

Sirius was surprised. "Really? I thought it was much later than that."

"First time in the forest?"

"By myself."

"You look like you haven't eaten anything." The boy observed.

"Not today." Sirius said.

"Why don't you come on over? There are plenty of berries over here and they'll make a decent lunch."

Sirius surveyed the river. For a forest river, it was surprisingly fast. It didn't look safe enough to just wade into. It would likely knock him off his feet and carry him away before the boy had a chance to help him. And Sirius couldn't see any stones to jump across either.

"Er, how exactly do I get across?"

"Follow me."

The boy began to walk upstream and Sirius, having no other options, followed him. They walked in silence for a few minutes and then the boy stopped abruptly.

"There." He said, pointing to a spot in the water.

Sirius cautiously approached the river and saw four flat stones sticking out slightly. The water rushed over and around them, making them slick.

"Don't worry. It's safe. You just have to be sure to land in the middle. It'll help if you move quickly." The boy advised.

Deciding that he had nothing to lose, Sirius backed up a few steps and ran forward. At the last second, he pushed off from the ground and to his surprise, landed right in the middle of the first stone. Remembering that the boy had said to move quickly, Sirius leaped to the next stone, followed by the third, then the fourth, and then he found himself on the other bank.

The boy smiled. "That was pretty good for a first try. Anyway, come on. The bushes are back here."

Feeling accomplished at having made it across the slippery stones, Sirius hurried to keep up with the boy who never once slowed down. In no time at all, they reached the area where they first met. Just as the boy promised, there were several bushes full of blueberries. Sirius felt his mouth begin to water at the thought of food.

"Have a seat. I've already picked some berries. There in that basket over there." The boy pointed to a basket nearby on the ground. "I'm going to get something. Be right back."

He disappeared behind the bushes and Sirius flung himself on the ground next to the basket. He reached in and scooped out a handful of berries, wasting no time in putting some in his mouth. His eyes widened. These were the best damn blueberries he had ever tasted. Sirius quickly stuffed the rest of the handful in his mouth and reached in the basket for another.

"They're not going to disappear you know."

The boy appeared from the trees right next to where Sirius was sitting. Sirius jumped. He hadn't heard the boy approach and wondered how he was able to get around so quietly. The boy was carrying a small bag. Sitting down, he reached inside it and pulled out a large loaf of bread. He broke it in half and offered half of it to Sirius.

"Here, it tastes better with bread."

Stunned, Sirius took the bread and bit of a bite. To his surprise, the boy was right and the berries tasted a lot better with the bread. As he chewed on the bread, Sirius remembered that he had no idea who the boy was.

"What's your name?" He asked as he swallowed the food.

The boy appeared to be considering if and how he wanted to answer the question. Several minutes passed by in silence. Sirius, for once in his life, was content to wait and be silent. It wasn't until they were nearly done with their lunch that the boy answered.

"You can call me Night."

Sirius couldn't help it. He started laughing. The other boy, Night, looked offended.

"It's not really funny."

Sirius clapped a hand over his mouth in an attempt to stop laughing. He really didn't want to make the other boy leave.

"I'm sorry." He said with a slight hiccup. "You see, my last name is Black, the color of the night. It's like a sign that we're meant to be friends or something."

Night looked appeased. "Oh, well. In that case, it is kind of funny."

Night looked up at the sky. "It's getting late. I need to finish picking the berries and get going."

Sirius leaped to his feet. "I'll help you."

Night tried to wave him off. "No, you don't have to."

Sirius was firm. "Yes I do. You were kind enough to share the berries you had already picked. The least I could do is help you pick berries to make up for the ones we ate and gather the rest."

The other boy gave in. "Fine. You can fill up the basket we ate from."

Eager to help after the boy had helped him Sirius leaped to his feet, snatched the basket, and quickly got to work filling it. Night got to his feet and pulled another basket out from behind a tree and set to work filling it.

For a while, the two boys worked in companionable silence. Eventually though, Sirius started to wonder how he was going to get out of the forest and back home. He certainly had no idea which was to go and knowing his luck, would likely wind up even more lost than he already was. Perhaps Night knew how he could get out of the forest.

When both baskets were filled, the two boys turned to each other.

"Do you know how I can get out of here and back to my village?" Sirius asked.

Night cocked his head. "Which village are you from?"

"Godric's Hollow."

Night smiled. "I know where that is. Follow me and I'll take you back to the path that leads to your village."

He turned and headed back up the stream towards the place where Sirius had crossed it. Night wasted no time in leaping across the stones, making it look easy. Sirius followed, albeit, a lot clumsier than Night.

Once they were both across the river, Night turned and led the way straight into the forest. He never once stopped or seemed to be confused as to where he was, making Sirius think that he probably lived here in the forest. After ten minutes of walking, they reached a path and Night stopped.

"If you follow the path that way" He said, pointing to the right, "You'll reach the edge of the forest and your village."

"Thanks." Sirius said.

Instead of following the path, he hesitated for a minute, looking at his new friend.

"Is there a way we could see each other again?" He asked in a rush.

Night blinked and considered the question. After a moment, he smiled.

"Sure."

He took out a knife and carved a line into a nearby tree.

"Whenever you want to visit, simply follow this path from your village until you find this tree. Then leave the path and walk straight behind the tree. You'll eventually reach the place in the river where the crossing stones are and you travel downstream from there. I'm usually in that clearing around noon every day. So you can find me there."

Sirius felt a sense of relief. He would be able to visit the other boy and find him without getting lost.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around Night."

"Bye Sirius."

**An: Let me know what you think of my latest story. I always love hearing from readers. The next chapter probably won't be up until next weekend since I have a week of college to get through.**


	2. Hanging Out

Sirius hurried through the forest. It had been three days since he had gotten lost and met Night. The two boys had gotten along fairly well and Night was kind enough to share his lunch with Sirius before showing him how to get home. Of course, Sirius had helped him pick berries to make up for the ones they had eaten first. Night had also told Sirius how to find him again if he wanted to hang out.

Today was the first opportunity he had had to sneak out. His parents and brother would be gone until well after dark and none of the servants cared what he did. So Sirius had left, making sure to pack a bag with enough food in it for him and Night to eat for lunch.

It was only five minutes of walking from the edge of the forest to the tree Night had marked. Turning, Sirius walked in a straight of a line as he could manage into the forest away from the path. Ten minutes later, he reached the river and the stepping stones. Sirius crossed them easier than he had before. From there, it was only a few minutes down the stream to the clearing.

When he reached the clearing, there was no sign of the other boy. Sirius looked around for a bit to make sure Night wasn't simply hiding behind a tree or the bushes.

Satisfied that he wasn't, Sirius flopped down on the grass to wait. Time slowly passed by and Sirius found himself growing sleepy under the sun's gentle, warm rays. His eyes drifted shut involuntarily and without realizing it, Sirius fell asleep.

It was some time later when he suddenly woke. Sirius sate up and looked around, trying to figure out what had woken him. After a few seconds he heard it.

"Enjoy your nap?"

The voice sounded familiar.

"Night?" Sirius said uncertainly.

"None other." Night replied cheerfully.

"Where are you?" Sirius asked, looking around for his new friend.

"Up here."

Tilting his head back, Sirius quickly spotted him sitting on a branch high above him. How Night got up there, he had no idea. The tree he was sitting in had no branches that were low enough to the ground. The lowest branch was at least forty feet above the ground. Too high to jump and catch, even with a running start.

"How in the world did you get up there?"

Night laughed. "I jumped from another tree."

"You did what?"

"I jumped."

Sirius decided to let it drop for now. He was more interested in hanging out right now.

"Want to come up?" Night called down.

"And just how am I supposed to get up there?" Sirius called back.

"You can climb up another tree. Here, follow me."

Night stood up and jumped from his branch to one a little farther out. From there, he jumped over to the next tree. Sirius followed on the ground; growing more nervous the farther away they got from the clearing. He didn't want to tell Night that he had never climbed a tree before. It was something the other village boys did all the time but that Sirius never got to do. Still, he was determined to show Night that he could do some of the same things he did.

All to soon, Night came to a stop in a tree. This tree had branches that were low enough for Sirius to reach.

"You should be able to climb this one." He said.

Sirius looked at the tree for a minute, as if deciding the best route up. That was only partially true. Sirius was also gathering his courage.

Breathing in slowly, Sirius reached up and grabbed the lowest branch. His arms strained as they pulled him up. Sirius sat on the branch for a moment before standing up and grabbing the next one. He repeated this over and over and before he knew it, he was sitting on the same branch as Night.

The other boy grinned at him. "Took you long enough."

"We can't all spend our free time climbing trees." Sirius retorted to Night's amusement.

"That's not all I spend my free time doing."

"What else do you do?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Lots of things. I spend a lot of time exploring the forest, looking for interesting things."

"Like what?"

"Animal tracks, oddly shaped trees, seeing what can be found in the river. I found a waterfall once."

Sirius' eyes widened. "Really?"

Night nodded. "Yeah. I'd show it to you but it's really far away. Maybe another day."

Sirius nodded absently. The things Night had said were making Sirius wonder if he lived in the forest. If he did, how long had he been here? Sirius was fairly certain no one had moved into the forest in his lifetime. In fact, he hadn't been aware that anyone had lived in the forest. That was the sort of thing his parents like to talk about and he knew they had never mentioned anyone living in here. The forest was supposed to be dangerous and children were told never to venture into the forest alone.

Sirius unconsciously frowned in thought. How could he get the boy to hopefully answer his questions without raising his guard too much? His eyes lit up as an idea occurred to him. Then Sirius realized that Night was talking to him. Giving himself a mental shake, Sirius responded.

"Sorry. What was that?"

Night smiled. "I was checking to see if you were there. You zoned out on me."

Sirius gave him an apologetic smile. "I was thinking." He said sheepishly.

"You should be careful. Thinking can be dangerous."

"Have a lot of experience with that do you?"

Night only smiled mysteriously in answer.

"So, what were you thinking about?" he asks after a minute of silence.

"I thought of a game we could play."

Night was instantly curious. "What kind of game?"

"Have you ever played Twenty Questions?" Sirius asked.

Night shook his head. "What is it?"

"It's a game where two people take turns asking each other questions that the other has to answer. It's usually played to discover something about each other that you didn't know previously." Sirius explained.

Night bit at his bottom lip, a worried look overtaking his features. When he didn't respond after a few minutes, Sirius guessed what was worrying him.

"Look, if you want, we can make it so that neither of us has to answer any questions that we don't want to."

A relieved look spread across Night's face. "Alright then. So who goes first?"

"I will since I'm the only one who knows how to play."

Night settled himself back against the branch that dipped down behind him and nodded for Sirius to start.

"Favorite color?" Sirius asked, deciding to start off easy.

"Blue. You?"

"Dark Green. Favorite thing to do?"

Night pauses before answering. Not as if he's deciding if he wants to answer the question, but as if he's trying to decide what his favorite thing to do is.

"Exploring." He says at last.

They continue like this for at least another hour, easily passing the twenty question limit. Neither boy seemed inclined to stop though. There were some questions that Night refused to answer and Sirius didn't press him. He liked hanging out with the boy and didn't want to risk Night telling him not to come back.

"Boys or girls?" Night asked.

"To date or to hang out with?"

"Both."

Sirius doesn't hesitate with his answer. "Both. Boys to hang out with and to date."

As soon as the words left his lips, he clammed up. He had never revealed to anyone before that he preferred guys over girls when it came to dating. And yet he had just outed himself to a boy he barely knew. Why had he done that?

Night's eyes had widened at his answer. Sirius studied him warily, wondering if he would be repulsed by what Sirius had said.

"What about you?" Sirius asked when he was unable to discern the answer for himself.

Night was silent a moment longer before replying. "Same." He said softly.

The two boys shared an uncertain look. The silence between them grew with each passing second. Neither of them seemed to have any idea how to break it. It wasn't that it was uncomfortable, just slightly awkward. Sirius briefly wondered if this would affect their friendship at all and quickly directed his thoughts down a different path. That was something to be pondered later when he was alone.

"Ever pulled a prank?" he asked in an effort to break the silence.

Night started and focused his eyes back on Sirius.

"Ever what now?"

"Ever pulled a prank?" Sirius repeated.

"No, can't say that I have."

"Do you want to?"

Night shrugged. "Never thought about it really."

Sirius grinned. "I have a lot to teach you then. It is a crime that you've made it this far and never pulled a prank."

"And just who am I supposed to prank?"

"You could always come back to the village with me and we could prank someone there." Sirius suggested.

Night looked away briefly before returning his gaze to Sirius.

"We'll see." He said.

There it was again. Every time Sirius mentioned something relating to leaving the forest, Night refused to give an outright answer, choosing instead to give a vague answer. Sirius wondered for the tenth time that morning why Night refused to leave the forest. What was keeping him here? Knowing he wouldn't get any answers, he chose instead to begin teaching Night the fine art of pranking.

**AN: I meant to post this last Sunday but my neighbor, who was like a grandfather to me, died Saturday night. Chapter three should be up this Sunday. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter. Feel free to ask me questions. I most likely won't be able to answer most of them, but they help remind me of what will come in later chapters.**


	3. Exploring the Forest

Sirius followed Night deep into the forest. It was after lunch and they were exploring the forest at Night's insistence. While they were eating the lunch that Sirius had brought, sandwiches and fruit, Night had told him about some of the things he had found in the forest. His descriptions of some of the more interesting things had aroused Sirius' curiosity and so now Night was showing him some of them.

"It's just up here Sirius." Night called back.

Sirius looked up to see his friend standing on top of a small hill. They were searching for the two trees that Night swore had grown close enough together that their trunks were entwined. Sirius had been skeptical so they were going to see that first.

He scrambled up the last few steps of the hill and stood next to Night. The other boy smirked at him before turning and pointing to something behind him. Sirius followed his finger and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

There in the distance, just as Night had promised, were two trees that had grown close enough together that their trunks had entwined.

"See, I told you." Night said smugly.

Sirius shot him a brief glare before turning back to the trees. He could spot some gaps in the trees where the trunks were not entwined.

"Better than the trees in the village?" Night asked.

"Better than the trees in the village." Sirius agreed.

They gazed at the trees in silence for another minute before Night grabbed his arm and began to drag him off.

"Hey." Sirius protested. "You don't have to pull so hard."

"Sorry." Night apologized, continuing to drag Sirius along.

"Where are we going?"

"There's an old cave not far from here. I wanted to show you it."

"Alright, but next time just say something. You don't have to drag me along.

"Sorry." Night said again.

He released his grip on Sirius' arm and slowed down slightly so that they were walking side by side.

Sirius was relieved when Night let go of his arm. It wasn't that he had a problem with Night wanting to show him something. It was that Sirius did not like being dragged somewhere. He had been unwillingly dragged places before and it had never ended well for him.

The two boys walked together quietly through the forest, each seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Sirius kept glancing at his friend, wondering if he had been too harsh. He couldn't think of any other reason why Night wasn't talking to him or even looking at him. Unable to stand the silence any longer, Sirius spoke up.

"I'm sorry."

Night started and turned to look at him. He appeared to be confused and have no idea what Sirius was on about.

"For what?"

"How I acted earlier. I didn't mean to be so harsh. I've just had bad experiences with people dragging me somewhere." Sirius admitted.

Night stopped and turned to face Sirius fully. Sirius stopped and faced his friend as well. He was surprised by the openness of his face. Night was usually so guarded that it was impossible to tell what he was thinking just from looking at his face.

"Sirius." Night said. "I wasn't angry with you for how you acted."

"You weren't?" Sirius said, surprised.

Night shook his head.

Then why were you refusing to look at me or talk to me?"

"I thought you were angry with me for what I did." Night confessed.

Now it was Sirius' turn to shake his head. "I wasn't angry with you."

Misunderstanding resolved, the two boys grinned at each other and continued on their way to the cave. Along the way, Night pointed out various animal tracks and identified them. At one point, they stopped to get a closer look at a fox den that Sirius found. Lucky for them, there was no one home so they were able to poke around to their hearts content.

Eventually they reached the cave that Night had mentioned. It was set inside of a cliff and was easy to miss unless you knew what you were looking for. Night mentioned that he had found this place by accident. As far as he knew, it was deserted.

"Want to go inside?" Sirius asked.

Night was instantly excited. "Sure. I've only been in it a few times. Never found anything interesting. Course I never went very far in. There might be something good at the back."

"Let's go in then." Sirius said.

They ventured into the cave. A few feet in they began to lose what little light they had. Another few feet and they were in complete darkness.

"Any idea where we are?" Sirius asked.

"In a dark cave." Night replied dryly.

"Very funny. Do you know how wide it is?"

"Nope."

Sirius began to feel around in the dark, slowly taking first one step, then another.

"Hang on. I think I might have found the wall."

Another step and Sirius smacked into the wall of the cave.

"Found it." He called. "See if you can find the one on your side."

He could hear Night slowly shuffling around and the noise faded slightly with each second. A minute later he heard a muted thud and the sound of someone cursing under their breath.

"Found it." Night called back.

"Alright, stay there. I'm going to start from my wall and count how many steps it takes to reach yours."

Sirius didn't wait for conformation before pushing off from his wall and beginning the journey to the other side of the cave.

Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six. Just as he reached twenty-six, his fingers brushed against the other wall. One more step brought him close enough to stop.

"Twenty-seven from my side to yours."

"Not too big." Night said.

His voice sounded as if it was coming from Sirius' left. The black-haired boy slowly turned so that he was facing the proper direction and began to walk towards his friend. His hand was once again outstretched so that he would be able to feel any large obstacles before he walked into it. Of course, that didn't prevent Sirius from tripping over small rocks on the ground that he couldn't see.

What felt like five minutes later, his hand brushed against Night's shirt. The other boy brought his hand up to grasp Sirius'.

"Bout time you found me."

"Next time you can find me and we'll see how fast you are." Sirius said.

"I'll remember that. Now let's see if there's anything to be found in this cave."

Keeping ahold of each other's hand so that they didn't lose the other, the two boys ventured towards the back of the cave. Night kept his hand on the wall so that way they knew somewhat where they were. After a few minutes of walking, Sirius' outstretched hand bumped against another wall.

"We've reached the back of the cave." He announced.

"If there's anything interesting here, it'll be on the ground. Be careful though. I've found some sharp things before because I wasn't paying attention."

Sirius nodded his head once, forgetting that his friend couldn't see him, and carefully dropped to his knees and began feeling around on the ground. He could hear Night step around him and move a few feet away to search a different area. Not five seconds later he found something hard and slightly jagged. It was too big to be a rock so Sirius set it down in front of him so that he would remember where it was.

They searched the back of the cave for a while, both boys finding a few things that they thought were interesting enough to warrant another look in the light. Just as Sirius was about to suggest that they head back out, the two boys heard a low growl. It was too loud for it to be either of their stomachs. In fact, it sounded like it had come from behind them.

"Night?" Sirius said, a note of uncertainty in his voice.

"Yeah?"

"What was that?"

Night was silent for a moment before answering.

"D' you want the honest truth."

"Uh, sure." Sirius said, not sure if he wanted to know or not.

He heard Night take a deep breath before answering.

"I think it was a bear."

"A bear."

"Yup."

"So what do we do?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say that this is the bear's cave we found. It likely came back here to sleep. Since they like curling up at the back of the cave, I'd say it would be a good idea for us to move and move quickly."

Sirius stuffed the few items he had found in his pocket and quickly stood up, moving in the direction of his friend. Night's hand grabbed him before he had taken more than two steps and pulled him over to the opposite wall. Sirius could feel his warm breath on his ear as the other boy hissed in it.

"Stay right behind me and keep as quiet as you can. The bear likely won't attack us if we don't disturb it."

Sirius nodded again and kept close to Night as they walked as quietly as they could through the cave. They had just gotten far enough to see the light at the cave's entrance when they heard a roar behind them. Instantly they took off, headed straight for the light and the safety of the forest beyond it. They shot straight into the light and kept going, not giving their eyes time to adjust. As a result, they banged into a lot of trees. Eventually Night decided that they had gone far enough and they dropped to the ground, clutching at their sides as they panted for breath.

Sirius was the first to get his back and was speaking as soon as he was able.

"You know, a few hours ago when we began to explore the forest, I wasn't expecting an adventure like this one."

Night had flopped over onto his back. His honey brown hair, turned golden in the afternoon light, had shifted so that it was in his eyes. His chest still rose and fell slightly faster than normal, his breath not fully returned.

"Neither was I." He said when he could speak.

A minute later he sat up and began pulling things out of his pocket. Most of what he found was oddly shaped rocks. Some were smooth, some were a little rough, and others had a jagged edge. There was one rock that was perfectly round with a few craters in it. Night picked it up and turned it over in his hands. He seemed to be preoccupied with it.

"Does this rock remind you of something?" he asked

Sirius took a closer look at it. It did remind him of something but he couldn't think of what at the minute. Seconds later it occurred to him.

"It looks like the moon."

Night smiled. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it."

He turned the rock in his hand over a few more times before suddenly holding it out to Sirius. Sirius looked down at it in surprise.

"Here. You should have something to remind you of our adventure today.

"Like I'd be able to forget it." Sirius retorted. Still, he took the rock and slipped it into his pocked.

He looked up at the tops of the trees, trying to judge how late it was.

"I should be getting back." He said reluctantly.

"Alright." Night agreed.

He stood up and offered his hand to Sirius who took it and allowed himself to be pulled up.

The walk back to the clearing took less time than it had taken for them to get this far. Of course, it helped that they weren't stopping to investigate every little fascinating thing. All too soon, they were standing in the clearing, Sirius having retrieved his pack from where he had stashed it after lunch.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you." Sirius said.

"Yeah." Night looked slightly downcast.

"I'll come back and visit as soon as I'm able." Sirius promised.

Night brightened at that and gave Sirius one of his easy smiles.

"See you then."

**An: Alright, so for those of you who read this chapter when I first posted it, you may have seen that I planned to post two chapters that were mirrors of each other in my next update(s). However, in looking through my outline of the story, I realized that I left out an important part. So that will be coming next and the other two chapters have been pushed back. Unless my train of thought takes me to something else, you can expect the first of the two chapters the weekend after this.**


	4. Mutual Attraction

Two days after their venture into the cave, Sirius and Night met up again in the clearing that was quickly becoming theirs. There were no adventures today. Night had to catch fish and Sirius was attempting to learn how it was done. It was an ongoing process as the young Black had no patience for sitting still and waiting for the fish to come to him. He would rather be picking berries again. At least with that he was allowed to move around and talk with his friend.

On the other hand, all this sitting and waiting gave Sirius plenty of time to think about his changing feelings for Night. With Night's eyes fixed intently on the river, Sirius was free to sneak glances at his friend as often as he liked.

When Sirius had first met the other boy, he had felt nothing but curiosity. Perfectly normal considering you didn't normally meet teen boys alone in the forest and away from the path. After getting to know him slightly, Sirius found that he liked Night and wanted to be friends. Then, two days ago his feelings had changed again. He still liked Night and wanted to be friends but now there was something else. Sirius was fairly certain that he had never felt like this before.

It had started when Night had handed him the rock that looked like the moon and smiled at him. Sirius had felt his heart falter for a moment then pick up at a slightly faster pace. His heart had settled down once he returned home but had picked up again every time he thought of the other boy. At first Sirius had thought it had to do with their close call but dismissed it almost immediately. Now Sirius wondered if he could possibly be attracted to Night.

"Have you caught any fish yet?" Night asked, breaking Sirius out of his thoughts.

The black haired boy started and turned his head enough to see the other. Night had not looked up when he spoke. As Sirius watched, Night's hands flashed forward and caught a fish. His basked was nearly full whereas Sirius' was practically empty.

Face burning; Sirius focused his attention back on the river. "A few." He muttered.

"You might have had more luck if I wasn't upstream catching them all."

Sirius didn't have to look to know that one corner of Night's mouth was pulled up.

"Maybe."

"We've almost got enough for today." Night said a while later.

"Even with the few fish I've managed to catch?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, even with the few fish you've managed to catch. Why don't you go gather some wood for a fire and I'll catch the last of them."

Happy to have something to do besides fishing, Sirius quickly stood up and moved away from the river. Inside, he was glad to put some distance between himself and the other boy. It was becoming rather hard to think with Night so close and Sirius needed to think in order to figure out what this bizarre feeling was. As his hands gathered up broken branches, Sirius' mind was somewhere else. More specifically, it was back at the river with Night.

Sirius had heard the older boys talking about what it was like to be attracted to somebody. One of the things they mentioned the most often was feeling your heart beat faster at the thought of the other person. Thinking of Night now, Sirius could definitely feel his heart beating at a slightly faster pace. Others had said that they felt their hearts stop momentarily at the sight of the one they liked. Sirius had felt that the other day when Night gave him the rock, which was currently in his pocket, and earlier this morning when Sirius saw him emerge from the trees. Still other boys said that when they were attracted to someone, it was nearly impossible to keep that person out of their thoughts. Sirius had been unable to stop thinking about the other boy since he first met him. Of course, part of that was natural curiosity. But now it was more. Check, check and check.

Sirius sighed. If the older village boys were any kind of experts, and they probably were seeing as they had dated a few girls, then Sirius was attracted to Night. Lovely, just what he needed to make things more complicated. He continued to gather firewood while he mind was occupied with this new thought.

When Sirius had vanished into the trees to gather the firewood, Night let out a silent sigh of relief. It had been rather hard to focus on his task with Sirius sitting so close. It didn't help that the black haired boy kept sneaking glances at him whenever he thought Night wasn't paying attention. Night had felt each one of the glances and it had taken all of his self-control to not react to them.

It was ridiculous how attuned Night was to the other boy. They had known each other for a week. Ridiculous. And yet, Night was intelligent enough to realize that that was the least of his problems. Higher on that list would be the fact that he found himself attracted to Sirius.

Night wasn't exactly sure when friendship had started to turn into attraction. He did know when he first realized it. That would have been two days ago, when he and Sirius had escaped from the bear cave and collapsed on the ground to catch their breath. While he had been examining the treasure he found at the back of the cave, Night had looked up at his friend. That's when it hit him. Looking at Sirius in the fading afternoon sun, noticing the way Sirius' silver-grey eyes sparkled from their afternoon adventure; Night had felt his heart stop. When it started up again, it was at an abnormally fast pace.

Of course, that was only when he realized something was different between him and Sirius. It hadn't been until later that evening that he realized that the reason for his heart acting absurd every time he thought of Sirius was because Night was attracted to him. Attraction, he could live with. It wasn't the first time he had found himself attracted to a nice looking lad and it certainly wouldn't be the last. But Night was worried that his attraction to Sirius would eventually grow into something more. Actual feelings. And that, he couldn't deal with.

He wasn't an idiot. He knew that the chances of Sirius feeling anything towards him that was more than friendship were next to none. Yet he couldn't stop his feelings any more than he could kick the bear out of that cave. He would have more luck with the bear than he would his own heart.

Night shook his head and focused his attention back on the river. He had to focus on the things he could deal with and put the rest aside to think about later.

His hands flashed out and caught the last fish. Tossing it into the basket with the other fish, Night stood up and stretched. While he loved fishing, sitting still in one position for so long did not do his muscles any favors. Picking up his basket in one hand and Sirius' in the other, he walked back up the bank and into the clearing. Sirius was there stacking rather large amount of wood he had collected into a pile.

"Are you expecting it to freeze?" He called out, making Sirius jump.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Are you expecting it to freeze?" Night repeated, gesturing to the large amount of wood Sirius had gathered.

Sirius looked down and noticed just how much wood he had collected.

"No, I was just distracted and didn't realize how much I had gathered.

Night grinned and dropped the baskets before setting to work piling the wood together before using two sticks to start the fire. When the fire was going strong, he gave Sirius the task of keeping an eye on it, making sure it didn't get too low while he prepared the fish. It only took a few minutes for Night to slice the heads off some fish and prepare them for cooking. Then he sharpened a couple of sticks and used them to spear two fish each for him and Sirius.

Handing one stick to his friend, Night sat down close to the fire and stuck his fish in the flames. Sirius sat down a few feet away and copied him.

"Do you do this often?" Sirius asked, startling Night out of his thoughts.

"Do what?"

"Catch fish and cook them in a burning hot fire in the middle of the day." Sirius clarified.

"What did you think I do with the fish?" Night asked incredulously.

"Took them to one of the villages to trade for other food." Sirius suggested.

"A good guess, but no. I eat them."

"That's a lot of fish for one person." Sirius pointed out.

"It's enough to last for a few days."

"So how do you keep it from going bad?"

Night hesitated before answering. He could tell Sirius, but in doing so, he would be giving the other boy an idea of where exactly in the forest Night lived. He didn't want Sirius to get it into his head that trying to find where Night lived was a good idea.

"There's a waterfall about a half day's hike away. Behind it is a small opening, just big enough to put the baskets one in front of the other. The water makes the rocks cold and the cold keeps the fish from going bad." He said slowly, watching Sirius.

Sirius didn't seem to react any differently to what he said. "That's good." He commented. "Must be annoying though, to have to walk so far when you want a fish or two for lunch."

Night smiled. "Only on days when it's raining."

Talking was good. It kept Night from thinking too much about his growing attraction to his friend. By talking, he was able to remind himself that they were just friends. Anything more was simply dreams.

Sirius was becoming more and more convinced that he had feelings that went beyond friendship for Night. And that scared him. Sirius didn't know the first thing about love. He wasn't even sure that that was what he was feeling. All he knew was that he was attracted to Night.

He faintly heard Night saying that the fish were done and automatically removed them from the fire. He watched as the other boy carefully cut his fish into strips and copied him when he was handed the knife. As they ate their fish, Sirius studied his friend, trying to figure out just what it was that had captured his attention. Perhaps it was the way Night's hair fell into his eyes. Or the way his mouth curved up whenever he was amused, which was often.

Most likely it was his eyes. Sirius had never seen eyes like Night's before. They were a light amber color, almost gold. In the afternoon like, they were definitely gold. Those eyes captured your attention and made it so that you never wanted to look away.

Sirius dropped his eyes back down to his fish. He had to stop these feelings before they got out of control. Night like him as a friend only. Sirius had to learn to be content with that, no matter what feelings he may have. Sirius knew that there was not a chance in hell that Night would ever return those feelings.

**AN: So it looks like our two favorite characters are attracted to each other. They just don't know that the other feels the same way towards them. Will they ever figure it out? Only I know the answer to that.**

**On a different note, the first of the two mirror chapters will be up next weekend. And you'll get to meet a new character. If any of you readers manage to guess who the character is and what their relationship to our main characters is, I'll dedicate the next chapter to you.**

**Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go hunt down Sirius and stop him from pulling the emergency brake on my train of thought. Again. Well, I'm off. Till next week.**


	5. Back at Camp

**Dedicated to Polly since she was closest in her guess of who the new character is.**

_A week later_

Night entered his camp a half hour before sunset. He was late and he knew it. Of all the days for him to get back late, he chose this one. He hadn't meant to be late. He and Sirius had spent the afternoon relaxing in their clearing. He had fallen asleep and didn't wake up until a half hour ago. It had taken him ten minutes to get rid of Sirius, who had been startled by his sudden insistence that he needed to leave. He hoped Star wouldn't care. Normally, she wouldn't care what time he came back but tonight was different.

Night had almost reached the safety of his tent when he heard her voice.

"You're back late."

He froze for a moment before turning and looking up the tree on his left. Star was standing on a branch fifty feet up, arms crossed as she leaned casually against the trunk.

"I'm sorry." He said, dropping his eyes.

He heard the faint creak of branches and knew without looking up that she was climbing down the tree.

"When were you planning on telling me?" Star asked when she stood in front of him.

Night's head snapped up. "What?" He asked, heart starting to beat faster.

"When were you planning on telling me you've met someone?"

Night briefly considered playing dumb but dismissed that idea almost immediately. Star would see right through it. No, he would have to tell her the truth. The only question was, how much should he reveal.

"I wasn't." Night said at last.

"Night" Star began, moving closer.

"I didn't want you to be disappointed in me, okay?" Night said harshly, turning his back to her. "I can deal with most things, but having my own sister disappointed in me, that's something I can't handle."

Tears lurked traitorously in the corners of his eyes and he fought to keep them from falling He was fifteen. Far too old to be crying. He felt rather than heard his sister move closer and tired not to flinch when she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Why would I be disappointed in you?" Star asked quietly.

"Because I've been hanging out with a boy from the village." Night answered, just as quietly.

"Which village?"

"Godric's Hollow."

"Do the two of you have fun together?"

Night was confused. Where was his sister going with this? Why wasn't she scolding him for not telling her?

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked confused.

"Answer the question, little brother."

"Yes, we do." Night admitted.

"Then I don't care. You're old enough to make good decisions about what you reveal to others. I trust you." Star said simply.

She moved away towards the merrily crackling fire, leaving her brother standing where he was in shock.

"Now, come eat your dinner and tell me about this new friend of yours." She called.

"I'm not hungry." Night said automatically. It was a reflex. Something he said every month. He knew it didn't matter whether he was hungry or not. He was going to eat dinner.

He went and sat down next to the fire. Star handed him a large flat rock on which strips of fish had been cooked along with some herbs from the forest. His fish had only been half cooked and though he normally hated eating his food like this, Night tore into his dinner.

"Slow down." Star scolded. "Honestly, you do this every month. It's not going to disappear on you."

Night obeyed and ate his food slower.

"So, tell me about this new friend of yours." Star said as she took a bite of her fish.

Night swallowed and asked "What do you want to know about him?"

"What's his name?"

"Sirius."

"Does he have a last name?"

Night shrugged. "He might have told me but I don't know. I didn't ask. I haven't told him my real name and he knows it though he hasn't pried."

"That's good." Star commented. "Describe him to me. Use your talent with words and paint me a picture."

Night chewed thoughtfully for a minute. "He's tall. Taller than I am though not by much." He began. "He has some muscle but not a lot. Climbing trees isn't easy for him. He wears casual clothes that look better than the ones I've seen other village boys wear. He has an air of importance about him, almost like he belongs to a rich family but he doesn't act like it. He has a sense of adventure to rival my own. He's up for anything I suggest. His hands look soft and it's easy to tell he's never done a bit of work in his life. Sirius is very energetic; he doesn't seem to like sitting still for longs periods of time. He would much rather be up and moving."

Night paused for a moment to picture Sirius' face before he described it. He wanted to make sure he got it exactly right. He also had to be careful that he didn't give anything away. Star was a master at hearing what wasn't said and could easily pick up on his feelings for Sirius before he was ready for her to know about them.

"His face looks as if it could belong to a Greek god." Night continued at last. "It has sharp angles that soften when he smiles. His mouth twitches a lot; like his lips want to pull up into a smile. You never know whether it's going to be a genuine smile or one of his mischievous smirks that warn you he's got something planned. His nose is slightly off center. It looks like it's been broken and didn't heal properly.

"His eyes though, are his most striking feature. They're a light grey, practically silver. They change color with his mood. When he's angry, they turn a dark stormy grey and when he's happy, they're silver. They get a sparkle in them whenever he gets an idea and it appears when we go on adventures in the forest."

Night allowed himself to trail off. Anything more and he would risk his sister discovering his hidden feelings.

Star had gone silent, lost in thought as she ate her dinner. Night went back to eating his, picking at his fish more and more as the evening wore on. It wasn't until the sun had almost fully set that she spoke.

"He sounds like a very interesting young man."

Night allowed himself to smile. "He is."

Star stood up. "You'll have to tell me more about him. But not now. The moon will be up in an hour and it'll take us a half hour to reach the clearing. Hand me your plate."

Night handed over his plate, making a face at his sister. He knew very well when the moon would rise. In fact, he knew better than she did.

Star took their plates over to the tree closest to her tent and stashed them in a cleverly hidden hole. Then she ducked into her tent to change her clothes. When she emerged three minutes later, she was dressed in a loose t-shirt that had the sleeves ripped off, loose shorts, and her tennis shoes. A plain brown backpack was slung over one shoulder.

"Let's go."

She led the way out of the camp and into the forest, in the opposite direction that he had returned from his afternoon with Sirius. The trip to the clearing was spent mostly in silence. Night rarely felt like talking during this last hour and Star had been through this with him enough that she knew that.

When they reached the clearing where the first hints of moonlight were lining the edges, he stripped off his clothes and handed them over. Star took them and scaled one of the nearby trees, stashing his clothes on a branch that was well out of his human sight. She came back down a minute later and sat down with him in the middle of the clearing to wait for the moon to rise fully, which it did ten minutes later. The last thing he saw was her smile as she backed away a few feet.

When he woke the next morning, the first thing he exhausted brain registered was that the sun was beating down directly into his eyes. Letting out a groan, he attempted to roll on to his side but was stopped by a hand pressing gently, but firmly on his shoulder. Cracking open an eye, he saw a blurry figure leaning over him. He blinked several times and the figure came into view.

Star was leaning over him, a smile on her face as she pressed a wet cloth to a cut on his chest.

"How are you?" Night rasped, forcing his voice to work.

Star's smile grew. This was something he asked every month. No matter how badly he was hurting or how tired he was he always asked her how she was. It was as if she was the one who had undergone the excruciating transformation instead of him. And Night knew that if she could, she would undergo it instead of him.

"I'm fine. Just tired. You were full of energy last night"

"I'm sorry." He said automatically.

"It's fine. It would good for you to burn off some your energy."

He winced as she dabbed at a particularly painful cut on his stomach. She mumbled a quick sorry and pulled bandages out of her pack. She tore a strip off and gently placed it over the cut. Having bandaged the last of them, she put the supplies back in the pack and settled down against a tree that was two feet away. Her eyes fluttered closed as her head tipped back to rest against the trunk.

For a long time, Night was content to just lay there and snatches bits of sleep. His dreams were even weirder than the usual post-full moon dreams. While his dreams were usually filled with flashes of what he had done during the night, this time they starred Sirius.

Most of the dreams involved him and Sirius involved in activities that went what beyond what friends did when they hung out. Each time he awoke, Night could feel the heat from his cheeks as he sternly lectured himself that those dreams were not appropriate. He and Sirius were strictly friends. That didn't stop his subconscious from conjuring up more images along that line every time he fell asleep.

It was early afternoon when he finally gave up on sleeping. He managed to push himself into a sitting position before looking over at his sister. He was startled to see that she was awake and watching him. Usually she slept longer.

"Alright?" She asked.

Night nodded. "Alright."

Night paused for a moment before continuing. While he was hesitant to reveal to Star that his feelings for Sirius were rapidly progressing from simple friendship, he had to find out if it was just attraction that he felt or if it was something more.

"Star," She looked over at him, "have you ever loved someone?"

Her mouth opened to answer and he hurried to clarify, knowing at the moment what her answer was.

"Not me. I know you love me. I meant have you ever loved a guy, in a romantic way?"

Star snapped her mouth shut and appeared to be giving his question some serious thought. Night waited patiently.

Finally she shook her head. "No, I haven't." His face must have shown surprise as she went onto to explain her answer. "You know that I was four when you were born. You were my entire world. And at that time, I was too young to be thinking about boys in that way. When we left, I was just old enough to start thinking about boys in that way but I didn't. I was more concerned with taking care of you. And then we left."

Night froze as he realized that he was responsible for his sister never getting involved with someone. He hung his head in shame and Star, as attuned to him as she was, was quick to guess why and reach forward to lift his face.

"It's not your fault Night." She said quietly. "At some point or other I had met all of the boys my age in the village. I can quite honestly say that I thought they were idiots. There was only one guy I cared to have in my life and he's sitting right in front of me."

"But, you deserve to have someone who loves you to share your life." Night protested.

"You deserve it as well. I don't know much about romantic love little brother but I do know this. If you ever meet someone who makes your heart beat faster every time you hear their name, who makes your heart ache every time you are separated, who you can't imagine your life without, grab hold of them and never let go. Don't let anyone or anything stand in the way of your happiness."

Thinking of Sirius, Night asked "Would you accept them no matter who they were?"

"If they truly made you happy, then I would accept them and welcome them gladly."

Night nodded absently, his mind elsewhere now. Without saying a word, his sister stood up and helped him up from the ground before leading the way from the clearing back to their camp.

**An: Well, it looks like putting Sirius in a strait jacket for a few days worked wonders. I was able to finish this chapter without any major problems (not counting my busy school schedule). Unfortunately for me, he's escaped. So now I have to hunt him down again. Leave me a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter. I love reading them. It always brightens my day when I check my phone between classes and see that I have a new review.**


	6. I Hate You

_Note: This chapter is a mirror of Chapter 5. It takes place on the same day, though the first half of it occurs earlier in the day than Chapter 5 does._

Sirius' day had started out the way it usually did. He had gotten up, eaten breakfast with his brother and parents, and spent the morning pretending to pay attention to his tutor while really ignoring him. Sirius had better things to do with his morning. Like count down the hours until he could hang out with Night again. He would rather sit still for three hours trying to catch fish again than listen to his tutor drone on for hours about a bunch of shit he didn't care about.

At least while fishing Sirius could sneak glances at the other boy. Sirius was slight scared by how quickly his attraction to Night was growing. It seemed to be worse when he wasn't around his friend. While they were hanging out, he was reminded that Night would never in a million years return his feelings. When he was alone, he could at least indulge in his fantasies.

Most of them were about their first kiss. Sometimes Sirius was the one who initiated it. Other times it was Night. There were a few in which neither of them initiated it. They both just leaned in at the same time and were kissing.

Sirius was brought out of his day dreams by his tutor saying "That will be all for today Mr. Black. We will review this tomorrow and you will be tested on the following day."

Sirius nodded impatiently and ran out of the room as soon as he was allowed. Dropping his books unceremoniously on his desk, he snatched up his sketchbook from the floor where it must have fallen after he fell asleep last night. It was where he kept his most treasured drawings.

The sketchbook was stowed in his backpack and he went bounding down the back stairs to the kitchen. Bursting into the kitchen he managed to startle Lily, one of the few servants who liked him, badly enough that she nearly dropped the dishes she was putting away.

"Master Black" she gasped. "How many times have I asked you not to come bursting in here like that?"

"About as many times as I've asked you to call me Sirius." Sirius replied.

Lily ignored the subtle hint and finished putting the dishes away. When that was done, she turned back to Sirius who was hovering by the door.

"Now, what can I do for you?"

"I need food for the afternoon." Sirius said.

"Enough for two again?" Lily asked, already moving to gather the food.

"Yeah."

Lily took two freshly baked loaves of bread and wrapped them in a clean cloth to keep them warm. Cheese was wrapped in another cloth while fresh fruit was fetched from the back of the pantry. Lily returned to stand in front of Sirius, handing him the food one at a time. Sirius set the food carefully in his pack onto top of his sketchbook and pencils.

"Thank you Lily." He said when the last of the food had been packed away.

The servant gave him a smile as he went back through the door and up the same stairs until he reached the main landing. Verifying that no one was around, Sirius slipped out from the servant stairway and practically ran to the front door.

Outside, he had to walk normally instead of hurrying through the streets as his impatience demanded. Being the oldest Black child meant that people watched him whenever he left the house. Sirius knew from experience that if he acted the slightest bit suspicious, word would get back to his parents. Then he would be in trouble. When he reached the forest, he was able to move faster, reaching the marked tree in a matter of minutes. From there, it was a short trip to the river and consequently, the clearing.

When he reached the clearing, Sirius was surprised to see Night stretched out on his back in the middle of the clearing.

"Hey." He called out as he approached the other boy.

"Hey." Night answered, not opening his eyes until Sirius had sat down next to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I was taking a nap."

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired." Night said, sounding like he was talking to a five year old.

Sirius managed to look apologetic. "Right. Sorry. So I guess you won't be up for paying a visit to the bear today."

Night laughed. "No, not today. I'd rather just lay here and enjoy the warm sunshine."

Sirius saw this as a chance for him to work on a drawing of his friend. Deciding to take advantage of this opportunity he answered "That's fine. I've been wanting to draw in peace for a while."

Night opened his eyes at that and turned his head enough to give Sirius a questioning look. Sirius raised an eyebrow at that.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just never would have thought you would be the type to draw. You couldn't sit still or focus long enough to catch fish." Night said.

"That's because fishing is boring. Drawing is a lot more interesting." Sirius defended.

"It is." Night agreed. "Just out of curiosity, what were you planning on drawing?"

Sirius fought to keep a blush from coloring his cheeks. "Well, I was hoping to draw you." He admitted, hoping that Night would let him.

To his surprise, Night didn't hesitate before agreeing. "Where do you want me?"

"Right there is fine." Sirius said, already digging through his backpack to find his sketchbook and pencils.

Night let his head drop back onto his arms which were folded behind his head. His face turned slightly, just enough to allow the sun full access to all of his face and his eyes drifted shut. By now Sirius had pulled his sketchbook out of his pack and had flipped it open to a new page. A pencil was in his hand and had begun moving across the page.

For the next hour and a half, there was silence in the clearing. The only sound was the faint scratching of Sirius' pencil as it moved across the page. Occasionally there was a much lighter sound that indicated Sirius was erasing something. Night had apparently fallen asleep, judging by the slow rise and fall of his chest and the fact that he hadn't so much as twitched once since Sirius had started drawing.

The only indication that any time had passed was the low growling of Sirius' stomach. The sound was enough to startle the boy out of his concentration. Glancing up at the sky through the trees, Sirius was surprised to notice that the sun was high in the sky. Well, that explained why his stomach was growling. It was lunch time and he was hungry.

Setting his sketchbook to the side, he leaned forward to wake up Night.

"Night. Night, wake up." He said.

It took a few more calls and a couple of shakes before the blonde haired boy opened his eyes with a low groan and sat up.

"What is it?" he asked, blinking to get his eyes used to the bright sun.

"It's lunch time." Sirius said as he pulled the cheese from his pack and handed it over.

A knife appeared in Night's hand which he used to cut the cheese. Sirius unwrapped the cloth from the bread, which was still just as warm as it had been when Lily wrapped it that morning. Night accepted his bread and handed Sirius his half of the cheese.

"Hey Night?" The boy's amber eyes flicked up to his. "What's your favorite food?"

"Are we playing twenty questions again?" he asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Sirius shrugged, trying to make it seem as if he was simply looking for something to do. Really, he wanted to know more about the boy he liked. He wasn't sure how well it worked as Night let his grin spread across his face. However, his friend did give him an answer.

"Hmm." Night said, leaning back and resting his weight on one hand. "I'd have to say blueberries."

"Is that why we collected so many that first day?" Sirius asked, honestly curious.

Night laughed. "That's one reason. What about you? What's your favorite food?"

Sirius had to stop and think. He wasn't sure if he had one favorite food. His family's personal cook had served so many delicious meals that it was hard to pick just one. He was silent for so long that Night actually leaned forward and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Sirius? Hello? Anyone in there?"

Sirius snapped back to the present. "Sorry. Was thinking."

"That can be dangerous. Especially for you." Night joked.

Sirius attempted to hit him but the other boy leaned back and Sirius simply got air for his troubles.

"Any way, if I had to pick, I'd say Steak and Kidney Pie." He answered.

"That is good." Night agreed. "But nothing can compare to the fresh food available in the forest."

"Maybe." Sirius allowed. Then his eyes lit up as an interesting question occurred to him.

"Do you have a favorite season? I know you've seen the forest in all of them so which one do you like best?"

"Ask a hard one why don't you?" Night complained as he shoved the last of the bread in his mouth. He flopped back down to the ground and stared up at the leaves of the trees, no doubt thinking about how they looked in each of the seasons.

Sirius leaned back on his hands so he could look up as well. It would be lovely to see the forest in all four seasons he thought wistfully. It would make for some amazing drawings; drawings that would be superior to anything ever drawn in the past and in the future.

"I can't say I have a favorite season." Night said at last. "I love all of them. But if you want to know which one I think the forest looks best in, it would be winter."

"How so?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Come here." Night said, patting the ground next to him.

Sirius shifted until he was sitting next to his friend. The other boy tugged on the back of his shirt and Sirius obeyed the slight pressure, falling back until he was lying down as well.

"You'd have to see it to understand, but I'll do my best to describe the way it looks." Night said softly.

"It starts out with the first frost. It's an amazing sight to wake up one morning in early winter and realize that the forest has been covered in a thin layer of white. Everything seems so delicate and in a way, it is. The lightest of touches could easily snap some of the smaller parts of nature. The first frost never lasts very long though. I don't mind because it's not long after that the first snow arrives.

"When the first snow arrives, it turns the entire forest into a winter wonderland. It drifts down slowly to cover the grass, protecting it and keeping it safe until spring. The way it covers the branches makes it look completely natural. As if someone had personally come down and carefully piled the snow on top of the branches until it was just the right height. The way the sun makes everything sparkle is amazing. I can't think of any other words to describe it other than beautiful." Night said softly.

Sirius hadn't realized the other boy had stopped talking. He was too lost in the images his mind had conjured up as Night described the forest in the winter. Without him realizing it, Sirius drifted off to sleep, imagining that he was exploring the forest during the magical time of winter.

It was some time later that Sirius found himself being shaken awake, a voice calling his name. Blinking his eyes, Sirius sat up and looked around, momentarily confused as to where he was. He remembered when he saw Night sitting a few feet away, one hand still outstretched to shake Sirius awake.

"Night, what is it?" Sirius asked, barely managing to stifle his yawn.

"It's getting late." Night answered. "You need to be getting back home and I need to go as well."

Sirius was mildly disappointed that he had to go and frustrated with himself for wasting an afternoon with his friend by sleeping. However, he stood up and packed his sketchbook and pencils up before slinging his pack on his shoulder.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked.

Night hesitated before answering. Sirius didn't have time to wonder about it before Night was answering.

"Sure, if you like. I'll be here."

Sirius smiled. "See you tomorrow then."

He turned and made his way upriver to where the stepping stones were. The walk back to his village seemed to take longer than the walk here had. Sirius rightly guessed that it was because he had been looking forward to seeing Night whereas he wasn't looking to returning home.

When he finally did push open the front door of his house, he was surprised to see his mother standing in the hallway, almost as if she had been waiting for him. Which, he reasoned, she probably had been. The old bat had probably been in the sitting room watching for him to come home. And that was never a good thing.

"Hello Mother." Sirius said.

"Sirius. Care to tell me where you've been all day?" Walburga asked in a cold voice.

"I was out and about." Sirius said in an easy voice.

"Really. I'd heard something strange today. One of the villagers told me that they had seen you walking into the forest. But no son of mine would be that stupid, would they."

"Of course not mother. You and Father warned me about the dangers of going into the forest alone." Sirius said truthfully.

He wasn't lying. Not really. True, it had been incredibly stupid of him to go into the forest that first time, and perhaps that second time since he hadn't been a hundred percent sure that Night would be there. But now it wasn't stupid of him. He followed a specific path and then met up with his friend who knew his way around the forest and all about the dangers that the forest presented. As long as he didn't wander off by himself, then it wasn't really stupid.

Before Sirius could reason with himself anymore, his mother had crossed the short distance and slapped him hard across the face. Sirius head snapped to the side and he had to fight to keep his hand at his side instead of letting it feel the sharp sting.

"Idiot boy." His mother hissed. "Did you really think I wouldn't know? I've had my suspicions for a while now but I didn't say anything because I thought that not even you would be that stupid."

She stepped back from him. The look in her eyes was one of cold hatred. It wasn't anything that Sirius hadn't gotten before.

"Go to your room. You will remain there until your father returns home tomorrow. He will teach you a lesson for disobeying us."

"I hate you." Sirius spat, pushing past her. "You just don't want me going off because it means I'm out of your sight and you can't control me the way you can here."

He didn't give her a chance to answer, instead stomping up the two flights of stairs and down the hall to his room. He slammed the door behind him and then threw himself onto his bed.

"I hate them." He whispered to himself. "They just don't want me to be happy."

Pushing the thoughts away, knowing by now that they would only serve to make him angrier until he became destructive. Instead, he pulled his sketchbook from his pack and flipped it open to the drawing of Night he had done that morning. Looking at it helped bring back the happier memories; memories of the fun times the two of them had in the forest.

**AN: I'll leave it to you readers to use your imaginations to fill in what punishment Sirius will receive from his father. I have my own ideas but they may force me to raise the rating of this story. And while I can write M rated stories, this one was never meant to have that rating.**

**Now, I have a question for you readers. Do any of you know of any good Harry Potter fics? Preferably Wolfstar though I'll read anything. My list of stories to read is growing short again. And if you like, I can recommend a story (or more) for you to read. You can ask for a specific type of story (i.e. angst, pairings) or just let me pick one in general. I have a wide variety and I'm fairly certain I have at least one story for every genre. So let me know in a review.**

**Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go put Sirius back in his strait jacket. He kept pulling the emergency brake on my train of thought, making it hard to get this chapter done.**

**Until next week.**


	7. What Happened to You?

It was three days before Sirius was able sneak out of his house and go back to the forest. This time, he was careful to leave early in the morning when only a few villagers were up and they were easily avoided. He knew he wouldn't be missed at home. His parents and younger brother had gone out of town for three days. Lily was the only servant who cared what he did and she wouldn't rat him out to his parents.

Sirius quickly made his way through the trees away from the path and soon reached the river. He jumped to the first stone and felt a sharp sting of pain in his legs upon landing. Sirius gritted his teeth and continued to jump despite the protest from his legs. Upon reaching the other bank, Sirius leaned against a tree for several moments as he waited for the pain in his legs to subside. As he waited, Sirius wondered if his parents knew he spent a lot of time jumping, or if they just hoped to prevent him from leaving the house by targeting his legs this time. Whatever their reason, it has failed.

As soon as his legs no longer stung, Sirius set off down the river, albeit at a slightly slower pace. Still, it only took a few minutes to reach the clearing and even less time to locate his friend. Night was once again lying in the middle of the clearing. This time though, the other boy was awake. His head rolled to the side and he gave Sirius a smile as he approached.

"Hey." Sirius said cheerfully, plopping down next to him.

"Hey." Night said back. "Been busy these last few days?"

"Something like that." Sirius answered vaguely, not really wanting to tell his friend exactly why he hadn't been here.

Night sat up. "Must be nice to always be busy."

Sirius opened his mouth to point out exactly why the other boy was wrong when he saw the teasing in his eyes. Snapping his jaw shut, he shoved his friend. Night fell back laughing and after a moment, Sirius joined him. It was rather funny that being busy back in the village was more entertaining than having the run of the forest. Both of them knew that that wasn't true and were laughing at Sirius having thought that Night had believed that for a moment.

When their laughter finally faded into the occasional giggle, the two of them sat up and looked at each other, silly grins still on their faces. Sirius grin faded though, when he caught sight of some fairly fresh looking cuts on Night's face. They were mostly healed but he could still tell that they had been bad.

"Night, what happened to you?" He asked.

Night's grin instantly died and he looked away.

"It's nothing Sirius."

Sirius frowned. He could tell that it wasn't nothing. "Night, really."

"It's really nothing Sirius." He insisted, his eyes not coming up from the ground.

Then he gasped. "Sirius, what happened to you?"

Sirius was startled at the abrupt change in subject. "What?" His eyes followed Night's gaze and found that he was looking at the still slightly red cuts across his legs. "Oh, that." He muttered. "It's nothing."

"Sirius, I can tell that these are fresh." Night insisted. "Did someone beat you?"

Sirius didn't answer. He didn't look up either. How could he tell his friend that his parents, his father really, had beaten simply for not staying home? He couldn't. Especially when Night clearly had loving and understanding parents who didn't mind that their son spent most of his days in the forest.

When the silence had stretched on for longer than a few minutes, Night sighed and stood up.

"Wait here." He said.

Sirius didn't get a chance to answer as Night vanished quickly into the trees. Confused, Sirius remained where he was, trying to be patient as he waited for his friend to return. It was five minutes before Night reappeared in the trees. His hands were full of what appeared to be plants

"Er, what are these?" Sirius asked.

"Herbs." Night answered.

"Herbs." Sirius repeated.

Night nodded, hands ripping up the herbs. "Yarrow, to be specific. They'll help your cuts heal faster."

Sirius nodded and grabbed a few of the herbs.

For a while, the two of them sat in silence, shredding the herbs. When the last of the yarrow had been shredded, Sirius was surprised when Night scooped up a small handful and brought it up to his mouth.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

Night lowered his hand.

"They have to be chewed to a pulp first. Otherwise they won't work properly." He said, sounding apologetic.

There was silence for a moment as Sirius processed that. His first reaction was shock. Night must have noticed as he spoke.

"Sirius, do you trust me?"

Sirius' answer was immediate. "Of course."

"Then trust me about this." Night motioned for him to lie down. "Lie down on your stomach."

It was a mark of just how much Sirius trusted his friend that he didn't hesitate at all before complying. He stretched himself out on the grass, folding his arms and using them to prop his head up, turning it to the side so he could see the lower half of his friend.

The faint sounds of chewing filled the air and Sirius knew that Night had stuck the yarrow in his mouth and was now concentrating on making it into a pulp. The sounds continued for a few minutes before abruptly stopping.

"This is going to feel weird." Night warned. "But you have to remain still and let it seep into your cuts."

Sirius didn't say anything, simply remaining still. A moment later he felt a strange sensation on the back of his legs. It was warm at first, then turned cold. Night's hands were gentle as they spread the herb over his cuts. It took three more handfuls before Night pronounced him good for the moment and moved so that he was sitting closer to Sirius' head.

"So what really happened Sirius?" Night asked after a few minutes of silence.

Sirius considered not answering, or at least repeating his answer from earlier. Then he rethought it. He got the feeling that if he wanted to know what happened to Night, then he was going to have to tell him some of what had happened to him first. That didn't mean he had to tell his friend the entire truth though. Night didn't need to know that. And besides, Sirius got the nagging feeling that Night wouldn't tell him the entire truth anyways. So there was no need for him to do so either.

"It really was nothing." He said at last. "I disobeyed my parents a few days ago and this was my punishment. My father took a belt to the back of my legs. It's not the first time I've been punished and I doubt it will be the last. It's the most common punishment. A child disobeys their parents and they get the belt."

Everything he had said was true. This had been punishment for disobeying his parents, it wasn't the first time and it certainly wasn't going to be the last time. And he had seen other village children bearing similar marks at some point or other. Sirius just didn't tell his friend what he had done to earn this punishment. If he told Night that he had been punished for sneaking out to see him, then the other boy would most likely try and convince him not to.

Sirius mentally shook his head. As if he would stay back in that stuffy village where he was under constant surveillance. There, his every move was watched and he felt trapped. Out here, Night didn't care what he did. If Sirius decided that he wanted to run off randomly, his friend would most likely follow him. Here, Sirius was free.

Sirius was startled out of his thoughts by Night letting out a relieved sigh.

"Is that all?" He asked. Sirius could practically hear the smile in his voice. You had me worried there for a minute, thinking it was something much worse than it really was."

Sirius wondered if Night really believed that. If Night really believed Sirius had given him the entire truth. Without seeing his face, Sirius couldn't be sure.

"What about you?" He asked. "What happened to you?"

Night fell silent for a few minutes. It seemed to Sirius as if he was trying to decide what he should tell him.

"It was an accident." He said. "To be honest, I did this to myself."

At those words, Sirius wanted to sit up and look at his friend, to see the truth in his eyes. Night must have noticed his body tensing in preparation to sit up and placed his hands on Sirius' shoulders, holding him down.

"If you want me to tell the story, you have to stay there and let the yarrow do its job."

Sirius nodded in surrender and shifted his arms so he was more comfortable. The yarrow was no longer cold on his legs and Sirius wondered if he had become used to it or if it had finally seeped into his cuts.

"It was an accident Sirius." Night repeated. "A couple of days ago I was exploring the forest. I had discovered a small hill and climbed to the top of it. As I was exploring along the top of the hill, I gradually came closer to a part of it that was looser that the rest of the hill. Unknowingly, I stepped on it and the ground gave under my weight. I went tumbling down the other side of the hill and crashed into a couple of thorn bushes. Some of the thorns scratched my face when I did so.

"So you see, even though I did this to myself by not paying attention to where I was going, it was an accident." Night finished.

Sirius remained still for a while, the story running through his mind a few more times. After the fifth time through, Sirius came to a conclusion. Night was either one hell of a story teller or he was telling the truth. The only thing was, Sirius wasn't sure which it was. Without seeing Night's face, he had no way of knowing the truth. And even if he could see him, Sirius wasn't so sure that he would be able to figure out the truth.

After all, Night clearly had practice keeping secrets. This was evidenced by the fact that he was easily able to keep Sirius from trying to figure out his name or where he lived.

Sirius pushed those thoughts to the side for now and decided to just go with it.

He shook his head slightly. "And here was me thinking that you knew the forest well enough to keep an eye out for those kinds of things." He said. "After all, how many times have you pulled me back from a weakened spot?"

Night laughed and Sirius could hear the relief in his voice.

"Normally I do. I was just so intent on exploring the area that my common sense decided to focus on something else for a while. Fine time for it to take a break."

Sirius laughed as well.

"I fully blame you for that, you know." Night informed him when Sirius had settled down enough that he could hear.

"How so?" Sirius asked with a slight hiccup.

"You're the one who always dashes off without stopping to think. I've been spending too much time hanging around you. Clearly my common sense decided to follow yours and take a break."

Sirius snorted. "I thought you decided a while ago that I don't have common sense."

"You don't." Night agreed.

Snorting again, Sirius reached out to pull his friend down on his side so he could see him clearly. Night complied readily and soon was stretched out on his side.

Now able to see his friend, Sirius was surprised to notice the worry and hesitation in the other boy's eyes.

"Night, what is it?" he asked.

Night hesitated briefly before answering.

"Sirius, I had something I wanted to ask you."

**AN: My first cliffhanger. What could Night possibly want to ask Sirius? Only I know the answer to that question. But I would love to hear your guesses as to what it could be. So let me know in a review what you think Night will ask Sirius in the next chapter.**

**On the subject of the next chapter, I will warn you that by the time you are done reading it, you will hate me. And no, I'm not telling you why either. You're just going to have to wait and see next weekend.**

**Now, I have a question for you all. Whose your favorite Harry Potter character and why? I'm genuinely curious. I'll answer this question myself in the AN of the next chapter.**

**Before I go for today, I want to leave you with this quote. It comes from a story that I love and find absolutely hilarious. Perhaps you know the story, perhaps you don't. I'll reveal the story next time as well. Of course, if you tell me in a review and you get it right, I'll let you know in my answer back.**

**Harry barged into the sealed courtroom, loudly announcing their presence. "Sorry, we're late. Sirius had pieces of Dark Lord in his hair."**


	8. She Wants to Meet You

**In answer to a question I got, yes, this story will have a happy ending. And to my guest reviewers, if you want me to reply back, leave me a way to do so and I will happily reply. Are you ready to find out why I said you would probably hate me? I'm sure you are. Well, then, on with the chapter.**

"Sirius, I had something I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?" Sirius asked, taking noted of the fact that Night was both nervous and worried.

Night chewed on his lip for a minute, something Sirius had noticed he did whenever he was reluctant to say something. Finally he said

"There's someone who wants to meet you."

Sirius was surprised. He hadn't been expecting that.

"Someone wants to meet me?"

Night nodded.

"Who?"

Night hesitated another moment before answering.

"My sister."

That explained a bit. Sirius guessed that Night was worried about how he would react. He was also probably worried about introducing him to his sister. Obviously she was someone important to him. Night needn't have worried. Sirius had always been curious about his friend's life. He wasn't about to pass up a chance to get to know more about the boy he fancied.

"I would love to meet your sister." Sirius said.

Night looked surprised, almost as if he had been expecting Sirius to say no.

"Really?" he asked, eyes searching Sirius'

"Really."

Night broke into a genuine smile. "Let's go." He said pushing himself up and reaching down to help Sirius up.

"What about the yarrow?" Sirius asked, ignoring the offered hand for a moment.

"What about it?"

Sirius could almost hear Night frown.

"Has it had enough time to seep into the cuts?" Sirius clarified.

"Oh." Night thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, it's had enough time. Hold on a minute and I'll get some water to wash it off."

There was the sound of footsteps receding and Sirius turned his head on his arms to watch his friend walk away. Night knelt down next to the river for a moment and plunged his hands into the rushing water. When he stood up, they were cupped. The walk back was slower as Night obviously didn't want to spill too much of the water.

Kneeling down next to Sirius, Night gently poured the water over the back of Sirius' legs. Sirius shivered a bit as the cold water touched his skin. Night murmured an apology before getting back up and going back to the river. It took three more trips before Night declared his legs clean. Sirius sat up and used his hand to wipe of the stray drops of water from the back of his legs. Then he accepted Night's hand and stood up.

"So, which way do we go?" Sirius asked, looking around the small clearing.

"Ah, this way." Night answered, once again nervous.

He pointed over Sirius' shoulder. Spinning around, Sirius let his friend take the lead and kept up with him. The walk to wherever they were meeting Night's sister was silent. Night seemed to be too nervous to carry on a conversation and Sirius was unwilling to push his friend for fear that Night might suddenly change his mind.

Half an hour later, they broke out from the shelter of the trees and into another clearing, this one a bit larger than the one where the two boys always met up. Sirius could instantly tell that this clearing was different. For one thing, at the opposite end from where they were standing, there were two tents set up between the trees. The tents appeared to be made out of tightly woven branches and leaves, and possibly a few vines. There was a fire pit in the middle of the clearing and two medium sized rocks spaced a short distance apart around it. Clothes had been draped across branches that stuck out into the sun to dry. It was evident that this was where Night lived.

Night led Sirius to the middle of the clearing and then stopped, glancing around at the trees as if searching for something. Sirius wondered where Night's sister was. He was startled when a voice rang out around them.

"So, he came."

Sirius jumped in surprise and looked all around the clearing, searching for whoever had spoken. He found no one. Night didn't seem bothered by this. Instead, his gaze was focused on a tree to their left and about halfway up. Sirius followed his gaze and was surprised to see a girl standing on a branch halfway up. She was leaning against the trunk with her arms crossed. Even from a distance, Sirius could tell that she was Night's sister. They both had the exact same shade of honey blonde hair.

"Yes, he did." Night answered.

The girl ducked down until she was able to grab hold of the branch she was standing on. Then she swung her legs forward and was hanging from the branch by her arms in a heartbeat. The entire time she was making her way down the tree, Sirius half expected her to fall. He knew it was ridiculous as Night never once fell when he was in a tree and it was obvious that the two spent a lot of time climbing around trees.

In less than a minute the girl was standing at the base of the tree in front of them.

"Well, dear brother, are you going to introduce us?" she asked.

"Right sorry." Night turned so that he was half facing Sirius, half facing his sister.

"Sirius, this is my older sister Star. Star, this is my best friend Sirius."

Sirius allowed himself a small smile at being introduced as Night's best friend. He also took note of the girl's name, wondering where exactly the two siblings had gotten them, though he was smart enough not to pester them about it.

"Nice to meet you." Sirius said, stepping forward and holding out his hand.

Star laughed as she stepped forward to grasp the offered hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Nice to meet you as well Sirius. No need to be so formal. Come sit down for a few minutes."

Shooting a glance at his friend who nodded, Sirius turned to follow her over to the trees closer to the tents. Star sat down against one of them and the two boys sat down against trees across from her.

"So tell me something about yourself Sirius. Night won't tell me much." Star said, shooting her brother a half-hearted scolding look. Night responded by sticking his tongue out at her.

"What do you want to know about me?" Sirius asked, wondering just what exactly Night might have told his sister.

Star shrugged. "Whatever you feel like sharing. Night's only told me the basics."

"Alright."

Sirius racked his brain for something he could share that wouldn't give too much away. His eyes lit up as he thought of something.

"I love drawing." Sirius said.

Star looked impressed. "Really? That's cool. I never really got the hang of it. What do you like to draw?"

"Everything. I've drawn some of the hoses in our village, the market place when it's busy, several pictures of some of mother and father's friends. Oh, and I did a drawing of your brother a few days ago."

Momentarily lost in thought, Sirius missed the look Star shot her brother. If he had been paying attention, he would have seen Star shoot Night a look that was both seeking confirmation and questioning. He also missed the slight nod Night gave in response accompanied by a look that plainly said 'tell you later'.

When the ebony haired teen came back to reality both siblings were patiently waiting for him to continue.

"Do you want to see them?" he asked. "I have my sketchbook with me."

Night answered for the both of them. "We'd love to."

Sirius retrieved his sketchbook from the bottom of his pack and handed it over to Night. Star scooted closer and watched as Night flipped it open. Both of them let out soft gasps.

Sirius was suddenly seized with an unexplainable nervousness. He had no idea why he was nervous. This wasn't the first time he had shown his drawings to someone. It was like he wanted their approval. Night was understandable. They had been good friends for a while now. But wanting Star's approval was confusing. He had only known her for an hour.

The siblings had come to a stop on a particular page and appeared to be studying the drawing more intently than the rest.

"This one is amazing." Star said softly.

Sirius moved around to Night's other side so he could see which one they were looking at. They were both studying the drawing of Night that he had done a few days ago.

"That is one of my better ones." Sirius admitted.

Star studied the drawing for another moment before looking up at Sirius.

"Perhaps someday you could do a drawing of my brother for me to have." She said.

Before Sirius could answer, the silence was broken by two loud rumbles. Sirius looked away from the girl to hide his rapidly reddening face. He could feel Night's arm move and guessed that his friend was hiding his face in his hands.

Star laughed.

"Sounds like a bear snuck up on us and growled." The girl pushed herself to her feet. "Come on boys. I'll throw something together for lunch. Night, get the fire started, will you."

Night nodded and handed Sirius back his sketchbook before getting up and following his sister back to the center of the clearing. Sirius stowed his sketchbook back in his pack before going after Night.

"We'll need more firewood." Star called. "Sirius, can you help Night get that?"

"I brought my own food. You don't have to waste your food on me."

"Nonsense." Star said, turning around with a handful of fish. "We have more than enough food to go around. Night's so good at catching fish that we have more than we're likely to eat in a week. Even if we ate it for all three meals. Besides, you're a guest here. It's only right that we feed you. Now, no more protests. Go help my brother gather firewood."

For some reason, Sirius found that he didn't mind obeying the order. He put it down to having the chance to spend time with his friend.

Night showed him a place where he kept the branches he found in the forest for firewood. They each grabbed an arm full of wood and headed back to the clearing. Sirius stood to the side and handed Night the wood as the other boy carefully built the fire. Once the blaze was going, the two took turns feeding it a few more branches to keep it going for a while. Star had the fish cooking and after much insistence from Sirius, included the food the boy had brought in their lunch.

Soon the fish was done and the three of them were sitting around the fire, using flat rocks as their individual tables.

"Have you shown him the waterfall yet?" Star asked her brother.

Night shook his head.

"Well why not?" She demanded.

Night shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't want to take him at first because I didn't know much about him. After that, I don't know. I just never really thought about it."

"Well, we'll have to fix that. We'll go after lunch."

"I don't think he brought appropriate clothes for that." Night protested.

Star turned and studied Sirius for a moment before turning back to her brother.

"He can borrow some of yours. You're about the same size."

Her tone was final and Night recognized that, accepting her decision.

Sirius was wondering what waterfall they were talking about. He vaguely recalled Night mentioning that there was a waterfall somewhere in the forest and something about it being too far for them to visit at the time. Perhaps that was the waterfall Star was talking about.

As soon as the last of lunch had been eaten, Star sent the two of them to get changed saying that she would clean up. Night ducked inside one of the two tents and emerged a moment later with a pair of shorts in his hands. He handed them to Sirius and directed him to an area behind the tents where he could change. Sirius did so quickly, folding his clothes and stuffing them into his pack, which he left inside Night's tent. Star joined them a moment later in a dark t-shirt and shorts and led them from the clearing.

The walk to the waterfall didn't take long at all. Within ten minutes Sirius could hear the sound of rushing water. Two minutes later the trees began to thin out. Without warning, Star and Night suddenly broke into a run, racing ahead of Sirius. Seconds later they pushed off from the ground and disappeared over the edge of what must have been a cliff. Reaching it, Sirius saw that it was indeed a cliff. Roughly twenty feet down was a large pool of water where the water fall emptied into. The waterfall itself was farther around the edge of the cliff. Below him, Star and Night broke the surface and grinned up at him. Night waved for him to join them.

Going with the thought that if it was safe for the two of them, it was safe for him, Sirius backed up several steps before running at the cliff. He pushed off at the last second and found himself suspended in the air over the pool over water for a moment before dropping. The fall into the water below only took a few seconds and less than thirty seconds after he had jumped, Sirius was breaking through the water to the world above. He found Night a few feet in front of him grinning like a madman.

"Isn't this place amazing?" He asked.

Sirius took a moment to look around the bottom of the waterfall. Down here, one could see the beauty of the area. A few trees lined the banks of the pool as well as numerous large rocks. Looking at the waterfall, Sirius was surprised to see colors shimmering in the water. Night noticed where he was looking and his grin grew.

"It's from the sunlight shining through the water." He explained.

"I love it." Sirius said honestly, finally answering the earlier question.

Star suddenly popped up next to them, wearing a grin identical to her brother's.

"Who's up for a game?" She asked.

"Depends. What kind of game?" Sirius said.

"Well, there's treasure hunters, find me, or a swimming competition."

"What in the world is 'find me'?" Sirius asked.

"It's a game where one person has their eyes closed and they have to swim around and try to find the other players."

"Let's start with that one." Sirius said.

The look the two siblings shared made Sirius wonder if he had made the correct decision. They quickly turned back to him, not giving him any time to rethink things.

"Alright then. Since you're new, you can be the finder first." Star said.

"You can swim above or below the water. Whenever you like, call out 'I can't find my family' and we'll answer with 'Find me'." Night explained.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at that. "Who came up with this?"

The reddening of Night's cheeks was enough of an answer. Star's amused glance at the other boy sealed it.

"In my defense, I was five at the time." He muttered.

Sirius laughed before agreeing to be the finder. He closed his eyes and could faintly hear the other two swimming away. After giving them a minute to put some distance between them he called out "I can't find my family."

Two voices immediately answered with "Find me."

One of them sounded closer than the other and Sirius allowed himself a small smirk before ducking under the water. He swam under the water and popped up a few feet away from Night. Sirius' hand flashed out and caught hold of the other boy before he could swim away.

"Found you." Sirius said, opening his eyes to see his friend. What he saw instead was something he hadn't expected.

Night was only a foot away from him. When Sirius opened his eyes, he saw first the droplets of water running down Night's chest. Then his eyes moved up and locked with Night's amber ones. Neither boy moved. They were simply staring at each other. Sirius was unable to think of anything beyond his friend. Without realizing it, the two boys slowly, unnoticeably moved closer to each other. Sirius' eyes dropped down to Night' lips and he swallowed hard, wondering what it would be like to kiss them. Would they be as soft as they looked? Most likely. What would they taste like?

Sirius and Night were now inches away from each other. Sirius could see that Night's eyes had dropped to his own lips and couldn't resist letting his tongue dart out to wet his bottom lip. Sirius looked up for permission and

"I see you found him." Star said, popping up next to them.

Sirius and Night sprang away from each other, both trying their hardest to look as if they hadn't been about to kiss. It must have worked because Star wasn't looking at them suspiciously.

"Yeah, I did." Sirius said, clearing his throat of the hoarseness. "That means it's Night's turn to be the finder, right?"

"Right." Star confirmed.

The three of them swam back to the middle of the pool and began a new round of 'Find me.' For the rest of the day, the almost kiss lingered at the front of Sirius' mind.

**An: Well, that was the longest chapter yet. I can't promise that every chapter will be this long. It all depends on what needs to be told in that particular chapter.**

**None of you managed to guess the story that the quote was from. The story is A Black Comedy by nonjon. I strongly recommend that you go check it out. That particular quote comes from chapter fourteen.**

**Oh, wait a minute, I forgot. You guys probably don't care about that at the minute. If I had to guess, I'd say you probably hate me for the interrupted kiss. Am I right? I told you last week that you most likely would. I'd be surprised if there was someone out there who didn't hate me. Feel free to tell me just how mad you are about it in a review. And I solemnly swear I won't be offended if your review starts out with 'I hate you…' Promise.**

**In Star's defense, she had no idea what the two boys were about to do. She had been swimming under water since Sirius first called out to them. She just happened to look and see that the two of them were standing close together. She had no way of knowing what they were about to do.**

**Until next week. **


	9. Hurt

Sirius was lying on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. It had been nearly a week since Night had introduced him to Star.

At first, when Night had said that his sister had wanted to meet him, Sirius had been worried. He had worried that Night's sister wouldn't like him. He wasn't sure why he had been worried. Sirius had never had a problem in charming his parents' friends and acquaintances.

In hindsight, perhaps that was the problem. Sirius knew how to use his charm on people who had power and knew of him. In his village, everyone knew who he was and responded to his charm because they wanted to be 'friends' with the Black heir. Star, on the other hand, didn't know who he was. All she knew about him was that he was friends with her brother and the basics. He couldn't charm her the way he did everyone else.

To his surprise, he hadn't needed to. Star had taken an instant liking to him and accepted him without question. She had fed him lunch and shown him the waterfall where she and her brother went swimming.

The waterfall. That was what had been occupying most of Sirius' thoughts. Or more specifically, what had happened while they were swimming. Sirius and Night had almost kissed. And they would have if Star hadn't suddenly decided that she wanted to start mastering popping up at exactly the wrong moment. Sirius allowed his mind to wander to a scene in which they hadn't been interrupted and he and Night had been able to kiss. Of course, his mind didn't stop there. It continued on with the possibilities of what could have happened after.

A knock came at the door, startling Sirius from his thoughts. He frowned, wondering who could be at the door. Servants never came to his room unless he was at lessons. Everyone else he could think of wouldn't bother knocking. They would just barge right in.

Curious, and slightly apprehensive as well, Sirius called "Enter."

The door opened and his younger brother entered.

"What do you want, Reg?" Sirius asked in a bored voice. It was only his brother so he didn't have to pretend to be interested.

"Mother and Father wanted me to inform you that you must attend dinner tonight. Some important guests are coming and your presence is required."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, dress properly." Regulus said, his lip curling into a sneer as he took in his brother's rumpled clothes.

"Fine, now get out."

Regulus left and Sirius flipped himself onto his side and stared at the wall. He should have expected this. It had been nearly two months since he had been ordered to attend dinner. Sirius knew from experience that no matter how much he wished otherwise, he couldn't skip every dinner with his parents. Every few months they would force him to attend whether they had guests or not. Sirius let out a loud sigh as he got up and began to get ready for dinner.

An hour later, washed, combed and dressed in a nice outfit, Sirius stood in the foyer with the rest of his family to welcome their guests. Soon, a servant led in the Malfoy family. Lord and Lady Malfoy entered first, followed by their son and heir Lucius, and Lucius' sister Jasmine brought up the rear. Orion and Walburga stepped forward to greet the older Malfoys and Sirius stepped forward to offer his greetings to Lucius as was required of him.

"It is a pleasure to have you here, Lucius." Sirius said in a falsely warm voice. His eyes conveyed what he really thought of the Malfoy heir.

"The pleasure is mine, Sirius." Lucius said back.

To Sirius' relief, a servant announced that dinner was ready, giving him the opportunity to ignore Lucius now.

"May I escort you to the dining room?" Sirius asked Jasmine as he flashed her his most charming smile.

She blushed and quietly answered yes. Sirius held out his arm which she took and led her to the dining room. He missed the approving look his parents gave him. All throughout dinner, Sirius acted as the perfect gentleman that was expected of him as the Black heir. It wasn't until dessert was served that things got interesting. During a lull in the conversation at his end of the table, Sirius overheard part of the adults' conversation.

"Druella and I have discussed it and we would be pleased with the match." Lord Malfoy was saying.

That piqued Sirius' curiosity and he abandoned all attempts to maintain a conversation with Lucius or Jasmine, instead focusing on what the adults were saying.

"We are honored that you would engage your daughter to our heir. The match will surely bring many good things to both our families." Orion said.

Sirius froze. The noise around him faded as his father's words echoed in his head. Without warning, Sirius abruptly stood up and, not asking to be excused, rushed from the dining room. Less than a minute later he was slamming his door shut and throwing himself down on his bed face first. He flipped over and stared at the ceiling.

Why had he reacted like that? Why did it bother him so much that his parents were arranging his marriage? He had known since he was five that his parents would arrange his marriage as they saw fit. He had been expecting this for the last few years. Really, he would have expected this to have happened a lot sooner than it already had.

The answer hit him like lightning. He was in love. That was why it bothered him. He was in love. Not with Jasmine or any other high standing girl that his parents would approve of. But with Night. How had he not seen this coming? Sirius had known that he was attracted to his friend, fancied him even. But there had been no indication of love; no indication that what he felt for his friend went deeper than a crush.

Sirius knew that it was only a matter of time before his parents came up to his room and demanded an explanation for his behavior at dinner. He briefly considered pleading that he had felt ill, due to something that he had ate. He nixed that almost immediately. He didn't want any of the kitchen servants to be punished.

To his surprise, his parents didn't come storming up to his room demanding an explanation. Sirius was left to his own devices for the entire night. There were no summons to report to breakfast the next morning so Sirius wandered down to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Good morning Master Sirius." Lily greeted.

Sirius gave a half smile. It had taken years of persistence but he had finally gotten her to call him Sirius instead of Black. Now if only he could get her to stop calling him master when they were alone.

"Morning Lily. How are things?"

"Fine. We keep busy down here." Lily answered, setting a plate of pancakes, eggs, and toast in front of him. A glass of orange juice followed a moment later.

"Thank you Lily." Sirius said.

He dove into his breakfast like a starving man. Anyone looking at him would think that Sirius hadn't eaten in weeks. For a while, Sirius ate in silence. As usual, the other servants ignored him and went about their work of washing the breakfast dishes and beginning preparations for lunch. Lily had gone back to work as well, though she came back a few times to check on him and see if he needed anything. Sirius caught a searching look from her once as she refilled his drink. He ignored it for the moment. He had been debating asking Lily's opinion. Of all the servants his family had, she was the only one he trusted to give him an honest answer, not just tell him what he wanted to hear.

What seemed like a short time later, Sirius finished his breakfast. Lily came back again and began to clear away the dishes.

"Lily, can I ask you something?" Sirius said hesitantly as Lily cleared away the last of the breakfast dishes.

"You can ask me anything you want, Master Sirius." Lily said, pausing for a moment.

Sirius hesitated for another minute, still wondering if this was a good idea. Making up his mind, he motioned for Lily to sit down. The red-head did so.

"What would you do if your parents wanted you to marry someone but you didn't want to?" Sirius could see that Lily was going to ask why and quickly said the last bit. "Because…you were in love with someone else."

Lily sat thoughtfully in her chair, thinking over what Sirius said. Sirius, for his part, sat in his seat fidgeting nervously. Part of him wanted an answer while the other half wanted to run in shame. His desperation for an answer won out so he remained in his seat.

"I would follow my heart." Lily said at last.

Sirius was both happy and worried by her answer.

"Does this have anything to do with why you have been taking enough food for two these last few weeks?" Lily asked

Sirius nodded, not daring to look her in the eyes. She would see everything then.

"I'm going to guess that she is someone your parents wouldn't approve of."

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course."

"It's not a girl." Sirius whispered.

"I thought it might be." Lily said, much to Sirius' surprise.

His head snapped up and he stared at her in shock. Lily smiled at the look on his face.

"In case it has escaped your notice Sirius, there are several young servant girls here. All of them have tried to catch your eye at one point or another yet you never gave them a second glance. It's sparked many theories and discussions over the cooking."

Sirius was stunned. Apparently the servants had known he fancied boys long before he did. Lily's eyes were dancing with laughter as she watched the realization hit him.

"I can't tell you what to do, Sirius." She said, becoming serious now. "You have to do whatever your heart tells you to do."

She had told him what to do. She had told him to follow his heart and his heart was telling him that he wanted to be with Night. Decision made, Sirius stood up from the table.

"Thank you Lily." He said sincerely. "You've helped me a lot."

Lily stood as well. "I'm glad I could help, Sirius."

Sirius made his way quickly to the door. He stopped just before opening it and turned to see Lily still standing where he left her.

"Once I'm gone, you should leave as well. Go join James. The family he works for will treat you better than my parents or brother ever will."

Then he turned and dashed up the back stairs to his room. He pulled his pack out of his closet and began throwing clothes in it. His sketchbook and pencils went in first, buried at the bottom underneath all of the clothes. When he had the pack nearly full, Sirius cast a glance around his room for anything important he may have missed. His eyes fell on the moon shaped rock on his dresser. The one Night had given him. Sirius quickly grabbed it and stuffed it down the side. Another glance to make absolutely sure that there was nothing important he was missing and Sirius closed his pack with a snap. Just as he was about to cross the room to his door, a sharp, impatient knock came. He froze. His parents had come to punish him for last night. Sirius quickly shoved his pack under his bed, barely getting it out of sight before the door opened and his father strode into the room.

"Sirius." His father said.

"Father." Sirius said voice flat.

"Would you care to explain your behavior at dinner last night?"

This was it. This was the moment where he either told his father the truth that he was in love with someone else, or lied and said that he had felt ill due to something he ate. As he had decided last night, he wasn't going to get the servants in any unnecessary trouble.

"I overheard you and Lord Malfoy discussing my engagement with Jasmine last night." Sirius began, keeping his voice blank and emotionless. "It angered me. I do not wish to be married."

"Is there a reason why?" Orion asked.

"I am in love with someone else."

"That is wonderful Sirius. Who is it?" Orion said and Sirius swore he could hear genuine happiness in his father's voice.

It confused him. He hadn't expected his father to be happy that he was refusing the marriage that had been arranged for him. Then it hit him. His father thought he had fallen in love with another suitable young woman. If that was the case then his father would likely have no trouble making the arrangements. But Sirius hadn't fallen in love with a suitable young woman. He hadn't fallen in love with a woman at all. And that was something he couldn't tell his father.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

Sirius didn't answer. Orion wasn't stupid. He managed to put together some of the pieces.

"You've gone and fallen in love with some whore haven't you." He said voice dangerous.

That angered Sirius. "It's not a whore." He said, some emotion finally seeping into his voice.

Orion wasn't listening. He had put together the puzzle pieces and come up with a picture. Granted it was the wrong picture but he was still convinced he was right. Still, all was not lost. What did he care if his son had a whore on the side so long as he still did the proper thing by marrying the Malfoy girl? His son could have all the whores and mistresses he wanted after he got a child on his bride.

"You can have your little whore on the side so long as you marry the Malfoy girl." Orion said, feeling as if he was being generous.

"One, it's not a whore. Two, I will never marry Jasmine."

Orion lost his temper.

"Enough. You will do as I say and marry the Malfoy girl."

"No." Sirius said defiantly.

Fed up with his older son's insolence, Orion roughly grabbed his son and forced him over the back of his desk chair. Then he ripped Sirius shirt from his body, not bothering with his pants as they left most of his legs bared. Despite knowing what was coming next, Sirius refused to show any sign of fear and resolved not to cry out even once.

The faint whistle of something swinging through the air was the only warning Sirius had before the hard leather belt connected with his back. The beating he received was the worse one he had received in all his years. By the time his father deemed that he had been punished enough, Sirius was no longer leaning over the back of the chair, but lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. The numerous wounds his father had given him were bleeding rather badly, not that his father cared. He simply turned and strode from the room, confident that his son had learned his lesson and would do as he was told.

Sometime after his father had left, the door opened again. Sirius was in too much pain to try and see who it was or care. The visitor walked softly towards him and came to a stop in front of him before kneeling down. It was Lily.

"Sirius, are you alright." She whispered.

Sirius let out a quiet groan.

"I'm going to help you get to your bed."

Lily stood up and reached down to help Sirius up. Despite the increase of pain in his back and legs, Sirius forced himself to stand up and take slow, unsteady steps to his bed. As soon as he reached it he collapsed face first into the softness of his sheets.

"Your father has ordered us not to help you so I'll only be able to sneak up here at night after everyone is asleep. Tomorrow I'll bring you something for the pain." Lily promised.

Sirius managed to whisper a quiet thanks and Lily slipped out of the room, leaving her master turned friend to hopefully get some sleep.

**AN: Alright, the end of this chapter was rather hard to write, despite the fact that I knew how it was going to end when I first started planning out this story. Still, I'm satisfied with how it ended.**

**Poor Sirius. I feel bad for him. I didn't want to have him beaten by his father but that's the only way the rest of the story will work out. Do you think Sirius will make it back to the forest to see Night and Star? How do you think Night will react when he sees the latest marks Sirius has received?**

**Now, since this chapter was kind of gloomy, I thought I would leave you with two recommendations to brighten your mood.**

**The first one is Pranked by Queenbeth2. It's a one shot and I find it funny. Note to self, never let a bored Harry and Sirius near a phone.**

**The other one is The Order of the Owls also by Queenbeth2. Note to self, the next time a dark lord threatens the world, bake him a cake and send it to him.**

**That's all for this week. See you all next week.**


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